Industry Shorts: Anthony Joshua, Sportradar, Jennie Price, FAW…

05 Feb 2019

By: Sport Industry Group

World heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua has agreed to become an official brand ambassador for Nigerian telecommunications company Globacom.

The 29-year-old British boxer, born to Nigerian parents, will be the face of Glo, which serves over 45 million subscribers since its creation in 2003, to help grow its digital engagement across West Africa.

The announcement took place at an event for Globacom in the Nigerian capital Lagos, where Joshua sent his support in the form of a video message.

Sports data and integrity specilist Sportradar has announced an expansion to its global board.

Tony Aquila, Founder, Chairman and CEO of technology firm Solera Holdings Inc. will serve as Global Chairman of the Sportradar Group Board.

Along with Aquila, Marc Walder, Herve Couturier and George Fleet are to join shareholder representatives, Carsten Koerl, Sportradar CEO and Silicon Valley-based growth equity firm TCV, on the Sportradar Group Board.

Commenting on the additions, Koerl said: “Each board member brings an incomparable wealth of experience and strategic vision that will further enhance the expertise of our board as we continue to build the ecosystem of sports insight.”

Jennie Price, former Chief Executive Officer of Sport England, has been appointed Independent Chair of the new Tennis Integrity Unit Supervisory Board.

The international governing bodies of tennis (ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Board) selected Price for the newly created position following an extensive international search.

The creation of a Supervisory Board for the Tennis Integrity Unit was a governance recommendation off the back of the Independent Review Panel Final Report, published in December.

Taking up the role from February, Price will Chair a nine-person Board, joined by four members from tennis, representing the ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Board, as well as four additional soon-to-be-appointed independent members.

Members of The Football Association of Wales (FAW) have ratified significant rule changes to modernise and streamline the way in which decisions are made across Welsh football.

The rule changes to reform the Association’s governance structures, received “overwhelming support” by FAW members.

The notable changes include the introduction of a Board of Directors, as well as the agreement that The FAW Council will continue to be shareholders and a supreme body of the FAW, as well as representatives of FAW Member Clubs.

Further alterations include the term for FAW Council members to increase from three to four years in-line with UEFA and FIFA, and the President and Deputy President term service is to be extended to (no more than) two terms of four years.

London has been announced as the No.1 sports city in the world for the third year in succession, according to communications agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW).

In BCW’s ‘2019 Ranking of Sports City’ list of the top 50 sport cities from around the world, the UK was also represented in the form of Manchester in tenth place, up from 35th in 2018. Glasgow rose from a position of 21st last year to 16th.

Olympic host cities dominate the top five places, with 2028 hosts Los Angeles positioned second, 2024 hosts Paris in third, Tokyo the hosts of the next Games in 2020 in fourth and Lausanne, the Olympic capital in fifth.